Nvidia's GeForce Now beta launches on PC, letting you play demanding games on low-end hardware

Good news for owners of potato PCs

It’s been almost exactly a year since Nvidia announced GeForce Now at CES 2017. The cloud-based streaming service that allows people to experience high-end gaming on low-end machines launched in Beta form for the Mac last summer. Now, it’s finally available for the PC.

The system essentially gives owners of less-than-stellar machines, such as old laptops with integrated graphics, access to some of Nvidia’s flagship GPUs via the cloud. It claims that even with the settings pushed to max, the system can still manage to produce a smooth 120 fps at 1080p while in Ultra Steaming Mode. All of which means those with potato PCs can enjoy some demanding games.

You can sign up for the public beta right now, which is available for “most of North America and Europe.” There is a waiting list, of course, and even when you do get in, there’s a limit of 4 hours per gaming session.

Users require a minimum 25Mbps download speed (Nvidia recommends 50Mbps) and either a direct ethernet connection or 5GHz wireless router. It's possible to select games from your Steam or Uplay library, or purchase new titles from one of the digital stores. Supported games, of which there are over 150 at launch, are installed to your cloud rig in seconds, and the service applies the latest patches to games and Nvidia’s graphic drivers.

No word yet on how much the final version will cost users. Last year, Nvidia said $25 would get you 20 hours on a GTX 1060, while the same amount of money buys 10 hours on a GTX 1080 PC, but that might change.